unable to install VMB5000

[petermooij]

I have a an issue with my Arlo Base Station VMB 5000 EU

Some info:

• I have an ARLO Floodlight, a normal ARLO cam, and an ARLO doorbell
• I first connected these to our standard wifi network, router, and stored the video’s online in my arlo account. This all worked fine.
• However, I want to store my videos locally for privacy reasons, so I bought the VMB5000
• I was unable to connect the VMB 5000 to my account. I carefully followed the manual and all online tips (first the ethernet cable, then the power button, resetting VMB5000, resetting router, etc). No success. All I get is an orange blinking LED on the VMB, and an app that keeps on searching for the VMB forever without success.
• I then removed all my camera’s from my account, tried setting up the VMB first, but no success.
  
  
• Installation via web or app makes no different (VMB is not found)

• In the homepage of my router I do see that an IP address is assigned to the VMB, under Connected Ethernet Devices (if I switch of my VMB, the IP address greys out, and becomes pink (standard colour of my internet provider) if I switch the VMB on again)
  

• I also see an ARLO_VMB wifi network popping up on my laptop etc if I turn on the VMB
• I have DSL internet, no problems with the camera’s when connected to the standard Wi-Fi. No strange setup, just DSL cable, router, and ethernet-cable towards VMB. Besides VMB a Western Digital NAS is connected via ethernet, no problems there.

So, how to solve this? Storing online is not an option for me (for privacy reasons), so I really want to get this working.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Peter

[StephenB]

Have you tried the install on a PC (browsing to my.arlo.com).  That sometimes works when the app fails.

[petermooij]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I tried that, makes no difference. It searches for 5min+, then says cannot connect the VMB5000.

Peter

[StephenB]

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@petermooij wrote:

Yes, I tried that, makes no difference. It searches for 5min+, then says cannot connect the VMB5000.

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Is this a used smarthub, or did you purchase it new?

[petermooij]

I bought it new. Thanks.

[StephenB]

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@petermooij wrote:

I bought it new. Thanks.

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Does the base LED stay blue?

• https://kb.arlo.com/000039100/What-do-the-LEDs-on-my-Arlo-SmartHub-or-Base-Station-mean

Also, have you tried pinging the smarthub from a PC (using the IP address that you see in your router)?

[petermooij]

The led is slowly blinking orange, not blue

And regarding the IP-adress. I see now that a MAC-address is visible in my router, but not an IP-address. I mistook the MAC-address for an IP-address (my bad).

Any suggestions?

[StephenB]

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@petermooij wrote:

And regarding the IP-adress. I see now that a MAC-address is visible in my router, but not an IP-address. I mistook the MAC-address for an IP-address (my bad).

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You might look at your router security settings and see if the router is blacklisting the base station for some reason. 

Have you tried powering down both the base and the router?  Then power up the router first, and after you get internet service back, power up the base.

[petermooij]

Shutting down modem and VMB, and rebooting the modem first and VMB afterwards does not solve the problem...

[StephenB]

How many DNS servers do you have configured in your router?

Some posters have found issues when they had three or more configured.

[petermooij]

First, thanks for all the hints and possible solutions Stephen.

I think I solved it, or at least understand the problem.

My router has 4 lan-ports, I attached the VMB to the lan 3 port. The green light of lan 3 started to burn, so I didn't expect a problem there.

But, after a lot of searching I found out that T-mobile (my ISP) reserved lan3 and lan4 for TV boxes only. All other things that you connect will not work...

So, I'll buy a lan-switch, and give it another try.

Thanks!

[StephenB]

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@petermooij wrote:

But, after a lot of searching I found out that T-mobile (my ISP) reserved lan3 and lan4 for TV boxes only. All other things that you connect will not work...

So, I'll buy a lan-switch, and give it another try.

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Glad you figured it out.  Would have been nice if they'd put a label on those ports.

I checked out T-Mobile's mobile broadband a while ago.  Performance was good.   But they don't support inbound connections to your router, so you cannot set up port forwarding or an inbound VPN.  As a consequence, you will not be able to use direct access to local storage when you are away from home.  You'll need a subscription with cloud recording.

[petermooij · Accepted solution]

Thanks a lot again Stephen.

I now connected the VMB to my first lan port on the router, and it works. I connected my floodlight and other camera to the VMB. I do have some issues connecting my doorbell, but that is something for another day 🙂

Peter